Half-Life 2: Being Human
by Boris Mikhailov
Summary: This Fan - Fiction is comprised of actual events that occurred in a HL2RP server on Garry's Mod. The names have not been edited from what they were in the server. Events in this story may stray from actual moments to add dramatic feel or build a sense of companionship as I felt in the server. This shall be continued indefinitely, although the time to do so will vary into months.
1. Chapter 1

Act I - Beginnings

I am on a train heading towards the city. There is 3 others on the train with us. One is talking to the other in an American accent from the old world. I remember from before the war I was from Canandaigua New York. I looked out the window of the train to see lights from the city. We were close now. I stood up as we entered the station. The train screeched as it came to a halt. The door opened and we all walked out, the station was empty but the sound of voices was heard from everywhere. I took my baggage and opened the suitcase. The only things inside was 100 credits and a Breen water. I walked down the long hallway to a flight of stairs. As I walked down I saw posters upon posters of combine propaganda. I looked at the slip of paper I was issued when I was relocated. It said "District 2 Apartment of choice". Probably the only good thing the universal Union has ever done for me besides giving me rations. I walked to the left of the street and came to a huge plaza. The tall building that was seen from the train station was at the end of the plaza. As I walked over to the stairs to the left of the building, I saw some citizen running from a CP. He was dressed in a brown wool coat and jeans with a beanie on. Suddenly the CP stopped and pulled out a pistol. He shot the man in the leg, he fell over and yelled in pain. The CP ran up to him and pulled out a stun baton. He hit it over the mans head three times, and the mans yelling ceased... The CP picked up the mans body and dragged him over to a mechanical door and went inside. Everyone was silent the whole time. I stood still for a second... Then came to my senses. I kept walking. As I got up the stairs I saw three shops. One was named "Boris's clothing" and another "Baltic Cafè". The other one was neither named nor manned. I kept walking. I saw a sign that labeled the area ahead of it District 2. I finally made it. I headed to the nearest apartment building and went inside. I dropped all my stuff and went to the bed. It was late. I laid down and closed my eyes...


	2. Chapter 2

Act 1.2 - New place, New rules

I woke up and got dressed into my blue workers uniform. I walked outside to see two CPs outside, they were almost like waiting for me. "Alexei Vladislav?" One of them asked. "That would be me, yes" I replied. "Come with us". I followed them down to the plaza where I first came into the city from. They brought me to the front of the tall building, and we all went inside. I looked around, there were many locked cells and a couple automated doors. There was also someone at a desk. We walked towards her and she looked up from whatever she was doing to reveal a CWU shirt and glasses. She looked right at me for a second, then put her pen down. "Name and CID?" She asked. I opened my mouth to answer but then one of the guards came in the way, "That's why we are here, he's been relocated from 74. Need to get him a new ID." The woman nods. "Alright put your hand here." She brought up a fingerprint scanner. I put my index finger against the scanner and let it do some work. "Alright. Now look in this." She pointed over to an eye scanner. I walked over and looked into it. I saw a little red light. And then it was done. "Alright that's all we need. Take these papers and remember the number printed here, it's your CID." She pointed to a 5 digit number. I took the papers and gave her a nod. She looked back down and continued writing. The guard grabbed me by my shoulder and pushed me towards the exit. I walked out of the building. A couple people in the plaza looked at me as I came out and muttered to one another, they walked off. I walked down the steps from the building and some guy ran up to me, "How did you get in the nexus? You must have done something really bad." "What? I just got here from 74. I was just getting my CID." I said back. The guy looked at me funny and walked away. I headed back towards district two. As I walked through side street towards my apartment, I passed a cafè. I could hear talking inside and I decided that I could probably use a drink. So I went inside. There wasn't anyone but a few vortigaunts. I walked up to the cashier and offered a little smile and said "I could use a coffee. How much would it be for one?" The vort turned to me and looked at me with a curious expression. "And how would the human like the coffee? Ozaxi has dark beans if he so wishes." "Yes I would like some. Thank you." I walked to a table and sat down. I saw the vort go into a back room and he picked up some beans from a box. I also saw a grate... I wondered where it could lead. The vort came out and looked at my gaze towards the grate. "The human shouldn't mind the metal grating. It would lead to a doom he would not wish on an enemy." I looked away. He quickly brewed the coffee and handed it to me. "Does the human wish to stay here with the brew or should he leave?" "I should really get back to my apartment. Thank you Ozaxi." I walked out and downed the coffee in one swift gulp. Then I looked back, the door was closed now. And the vort was back to his chair and typing in numbers. I realized that the vort did not tell me the price nor made me pay for the coffee. I decided to go back inside and pay him. As I entered the restaurant though, I saw the vort in the back room, he was over the grate saying something in a different language and dropping a box with a symbol I did not understand down into the grate. I slipped out before he saw me or someone else showed up. I stood still for a second, shook my head, then walked away. I decided to not go back to my apartment just yet. I headed to the construction site that I could see from the cafè. The site was deserted. But down near the bottom there appeared to be a sewer entrance. I looked at it for a second, but when I looked around, there was a CP right behind me, staring at me. He backed up and pointed away from the site. "Get out of here. Now." I hurried away from the guard as his head followed me. I saw him reach for his radio before I turned a corner. I came back to my apartment and set the papers on the desk and sat there, why were they trying to keep the sewers such a secret...


	3. Chapter 3

Act I - At Night

I decided to go out and check the sewers. I needed to wait until it was dark though. So I waited. And waited. I checked my watch. 9:00. Curfew for everyone other than CWU officials or the CCA was in affect by now. But like normal district two was quiet. I got up and looked out my window. Not a single CP to be seen. I put on my normal day shoes and went out the door... As if to be discreet I hid alongside the wall and made my way towards the sewers entrance. As I drew near the construction yard I realized now that I was closer that the sewer entrance was an underground entrance. I jumped down into the yard and took a quick look around. I didn't see anything but rubble. I came to the entrance of the sewers. And I thought, if I get caught down here I'm as good as dead probably. I stood there holding the side of the tunnels bars. I climbed in. Inside it was dark, so I turned on my light I had gotten attached to the papers. There was two directions I could have gone. To the left or to the right. I chose to go to the right first. I walked cautiously down the dim hallway only lit up by red alarm lights with no alarm. At the end of the hallway there was a fencing. I tried to open it, to no avail. I decided if I came this far I might as well keep going. I kicked down the fence gate and walked through it. I heard voices murmuring.. I walked out onto a catwalk. I looked out to the right of the catwalk. There was another tunnel and some control modules. Under me was a large stream of water. But it didn't look too deep that I couldn't walk through it. Suddenly, the voices stopped. I slowly looked to my right. Where I saw 4 people armed with pistols staring at me. They waved and one motioned for me to come down to him. I stood there shocked for a moment. Then I looked behind me, at where I could run off to. But I took a deep breath. And I came down the ladder and slowly and cautiously walked up to them. They all smiled a little awkwardly. And I noticed what they were wearing. They all had on rebel armor plating and jeans that looked different from the basic uniform jeans. One had a beanie and two others had some black gloves on. I looked at all of them in silence until the one with the beanie spoke up. "What's your name lad?" "I'm Alexei Vladislav. I was just relocated from 74... Who are you guys?" They all looked at each other and the one in the beanie said "Well we can't tell you that. Not exactly yet. I go by the name of Jap. And this is Doc." He pointed to an older man who gave me a nod. One of the other two spoke up, "I'm soap." And the last one, "And I can tell you my first name. I don't have a nickname. I'm jack. Pleasure to meet you Alexei." I gave a slow nod. Jap looked at me, gave a half smile, and said "Eh, I'm sorry but I'm afraid we are going to have to pat you down. Nothing out of the ordinary just need to know that you aren't carrying any CR devices. You understand right?" I gave a nod once again. Thinking that speaking to them might further the consequences if we do get caught. They pat me down from everywhere it's possible to be pat down from. "Alright. He's good." Jap said. "Alright. So what do you boys want to do with him?" Jack asked. "Woah woah woah wait. I'm not just some guy that isn't going to be involved with this." I said. They all looked at each other. And holstered their weapons. "Alright. What do you want us to do with you Alexei?" Soap asked. "Take me with you. I don't need another one of these city catastrophes happening again and me being in the middle of it." "Alright then. He's with us. Let's get out of here before CPs show up." They walked towards the tunnel to the right. It was 10:00 now.

\- 2 Hours Later -

12:00. We are at the end of the tunnel, only way I know this is by the look of the opening at the end. We walked through and I looked up. The stars were glimmering like thousands of jewels in the night sky. "You have been oddly quiet Alexei. What's troubling you?" Asked Doc. "... I'm not going to be able to go back am I?" I replied. "No you will. There are few that they keep track of in the city. And besides. You aren't vested. You are a simple refugee. Don't take that as an insult lad. I've seen refugees do many good things. Of course after they get vested." "Thanks.. I think I'd rather keep my head down in the city instead of being vested though. And that word refugee. We could change that couldn't we?" "I believe we could if we had enough people on board with it. But at the moment we don't. Mainly because we don't have that much gees to begin with. 'S a damn shame let me tell ya." Soap cuts in here "Well I suppose we could have a little work for you. Call yourself a runner, grab supplies and people and bring them back with you to the caves." I was silent the rest of the walk there. Hours passed...

\- 5 Hours Later -

The sun is beginning to come up, and with it the looks of dark clouds. I just now realize the terrain of where we were walking. It looks a lot like a canal system. I should have known as soon as I noticed we were still in water. "My clothes are going to be soaked through in a second here, how much farther?" "We are here..." Jap said. They came to a broken tunnel gate and climbed inside. I followed behind them. As we went in, the one in the back turned to me and said, "Hold your breath", gave me a smirk, then went under some water. I took a deep breath and followed him under. As I came to the surface on the other side of the tunnel there was a blinding light. I shielded my eyes until the glare got better. Then I saw 3 other people behind barricades aiming weapons at us, but they slowly put them down. "Jesus jack. You nearly made us think there was a raid coming." A female voice said from behind the barricade. The group climbed over the wall, and I just walked up to it, thinking there would be some kind of introduction. But there wasn't. The woman just offered me a hand up. I took it. "Names finely. Used to be in the United States Army. I guess this whole war thing never really ended did it." "Alexei. Thanks." I walked off to join the rest of the group. Jack turned to me as I walked up to them. "Alexei this is our leader, Beswick Boswaldis. You will be taking orders from him from now on as a runner." Beswick walked up to me and smiled, offered a handshake, I took it and smiled back. "Good man. So here's the plan. We gotta get you out of those city clothes, but into something still legal. He motioned to a dark area, "Walk with me. We can discuss this further inside."


	4. Chapter 4

Act II - Resist

We walked through the dark cave area until we came to a lit area. We turned right into what seemed like a drop off. But Beswick pushed a button and I heard the sound of metal clanking. Soon enough there was a lift in front of us. Beswick stepped on and I followed him. He pushed a button and the door closed and we started going down. I looked through the metal grating of the lift and I saw some people below behind barricades. They were armed too and were wearing vests. The lift came to a stop at the metal flooring. Although I could see that we could have gone further down. The huge cave had a ramp leading up into 5 tunnels. But the vested people were standing on the far right tunnel. The tunnel had a sign over it that said Steelyard. We passed the two guards who were looking at me as we passed. One had a face wrap and the other was wearing a gas mask. We kept walking down the tunnel. Unlike what I thought a normal mine would be like this one had flat flooring and power. As we walked further down the tunnel I heard tons of voices and saw some people standing in the midst of 5 shacks. I looked in awe towards the sky once we came to the big opening. There was vegetation growing throughout the walls and the sky looked so clear, compared to how the cities sky looked. Beswick turned to me. "Listen Alexei... This is the last hope for mankind. Everyone here who isn't doing their part here is a refugee. Anyone else, that would be the vested. The lambda. Of course, refugees that don't necessarily like the name refugee make their own groups. We try to include everyone's ideas and groups here. But we can't just have everyone voting. We have two people from every faction in our council. If you can't deal with all this we understand. You can leave. But we'd rather you stay so you aren't helping the combine by working in your city. So, what do you say?" I looked at him intently and said "I'm staying. But my soul purpose here is to run people to and from the city. I have been to cities where the combine fuck over most people. I'll be damned if I let one more person fall to them without me having a chance to save them." "Alright then, good. At least I know you can be persuasive. Come, we need to get you out of those clothes. We have a place where we can get you some winter coats, jeans, beanies, and gloves." He pointed over to a shack. "You can ask the woman at the desk to get you clothes." I nodded. And walked off. Through the gate there were more people than I would imagine in the caves. I walked up to the woman and asked, "Beswick told me you can get me out of these clothes." She looked up with a stern expression. As if Se were at this for days. "Yeah. I can get you some basic clothing that can be passed as legal in the city. Here," she handed over a brown jacket some dirty jeans a beanie and some gloves. "You will also need this." She handed over a red and white piece of cloth. "What is this for?" I asked. "Well normally what we do in the city is illegal. So what we do is we cover our facial appearance as to stay hidden. Don't wear it outright though. They are illegal in the city. Only wear it when you are running or in the canals." "Alright thanks for the tip. I had better get back to Beswick now. Goodbye." I walked to a corner where I didn't see anyone and changed. The clothes for almost perfectly, but still felt pretty worn. I headed back to where Beswick was. As I walked up to him I saw the guard from outside, Finley, and jack with him. They all looked at me and jack smiled. "Now you look better. Here. I know you just got here and all but you did say you wanted to smuggle people out of the city. I've made another map for you. Here." He handed me a piece of paper that had a colored path that led to a place labeled "City". I took it and put it in the coats pocket. "Thanks. I will remember this. Now I had better get back before they notice I'm gone or something. I won't be gone long though. Goodbye." They nodded and looked back to each other. I walked to the lift and left the caves.

\- Back At The City -

I slipped through the metal grating that led back into the city. There were another four people out this time. They just looked at me and nodded though. No words. I climbed the ladder back onto the catwalk and went through the doorways. As I emerged from the sewer entrance the sun was low in the sky. I had to work fast. All I needed was to grab some supplies from the ration distribution center and get some water. Then maybe I'd even find someone to take with me back. I went to the rations distribution and I was the only one in line. I approached the counter and the guard asked "Name and CID." I remember I needed to look at that. I pulled out the paper that the woman from the nexus gave me. I said "Alexei Vladislav, 24240." They looked at me for a second. Then went back to punching in numbers. He handed me a bag labeled "Rations" and a poster. "Get out of here" he said. I walked off. Outside I opened the bag. Inside I found some credits, beans, and some water. I opened and took a sip of the water and threw it away. As well as the bag. All I needed to do now was get some water for the group. I went to a vending machine and put in 21 credits. Three waters popped out of the machine and I took them and put them in my bag. I turned around and a guard was walking up to me with his stun baton out... I stood as still as I could. When he got up to me he looked me up and down. "Get on the wall." He said. I did so. He started patting me down. I stood there, clearly I had nothing to hide. The face wrap was legal as long as I wasn't wearing it. "What's this?" He asked. I turned around and saw him holding it. "That's just my handkerchief." He started laughing and threw it back at me. "Put it away and come with me. We are going for a little walk." Just then I saw a citizen creeping up behind him with a pipe. I stood there, looking at the guard. Waiting for this guy to do something. "Well what are you waiting for? Put it away and let's.." The man thrusted his arms up and brought it down on the guards head. The guard fell to the ground. "Come on let's get the hell out of here." The man said. I picked up my face wrap and started running from the nexus. I turned around and saw some guards look from the body to us, they drew their pistols and started shooting. I put on my face wrap. The man was bobbing and weaving through all these bullets. Just barely missing him. We turned a corner and he went through a doorway. But as I came through we saw the combine inside. But that didn't stop him. He raised his pipe and crashed it down on the guards head. He fell to the ground before he even knew what was happening. Just then, the door broke down and a small little can rolled in. It had a red light beeping on top of it. The man grabbed me by my shoulders and threw me behind a desk. I heard a loud explosion and the combine soldiers rushing in. The man dragged me to my feet and we took off running to the other exit. He bashed down the door. We were headed straight for district two. I turned around, and there were 4 CPs behind us. One raised his pistol and I remembered, bob and weave, bob and weave. We made it to a new entrance to district two. We ran past two unsuspecting citizens who looked at us as we sprinted past. The man jumped down off a wooden platform. And I realized, we were at the construction site. I ran into the sewers with him. We stood behind a wall so we were away from the entrance. Gasping for air, I managed "Th... Thanks. Who the hell are you?" "Don't mention it. I'm Raven."


	5. Chapter 5

Act II - Heat

I was with my best friend Ryan. We were walking in a busy street in Manhattan. I looked up to the sky. It was fresh. Blue sky, the sun bright as usual. Then, I heard a crash. Then an amazing blue light blinded me... I woke up. Raven was up now, I got up and walked over to him, he was making some sort of stew. He turned to me and said "Antlion. The stew makes you feel as full as possible. Really nukes those days you spend without food. Here have some." I took the ladle and took a sip of the stew. It tasted decent... Although it was still better than what the combine feeds us. "It's good." I said, raising the ladle in agreement of myself. I handed it back to him. "So. Are you part of the resistance too?" "Actually no... I'm not. Some guy sold me the pipe and I've been under the radar since." That was enough to tell me I can probably get him out of here. There was just one thing I needed to do. "Alright. Well I need to do something real quick then. You wouldn't mind me patting you down would you? It's just something we have to do to keep CR devices away." "Yeah it's fine. Go ahead." I patted him down and found nothing. "You're good." "Well I'd hope so, I did just beat 2 cops to the ground with a pipe yesterday." I laughed a little bit at that one. I have been wondering for a while how he got the pipe if he was never affiliated with the rebels. "Hey, if you aren't with the rebels how did you get the pipe?" I asked. "There's always those people out there that sell them for like 25 credits. They aren't that much. And the only reason I can do so much is because I'm built like a tank." I smiled, "Well that's good. I could use your help. I promised Jack I would bring someone back with me to the caves. So you want to go? Raven sat there blankly for a moment. As if he didn't know what I was talking about. "The caves?" He asked. "You are further behind than I thought... The caves are where the rebels are holed up. I can bring you there, get you formally introduced. All that good stuff." He nodded and got up. "So uh, which way is it?"

\- At The Caves -

Me and Raven got on the lift and hit the button to go down. There were some vorts at the bottom. Probably waiting to come back up. We stepped off and let them on then headed down the tunnels. Suddenly I heard people yelling and a bunch of clanging of metal together. As we walked into the steelyard, a bright light shown on us and nearly blinded us. "Turn that damn thing off, it's out new comer and someone else." The light shut off and Beswick ran up to us with someone in a gas mask. Quickly Alexei inside. We are expecting a raid any moment now. You didn't see COTA out there did you?" He spoke frantically as if he were about to lose it. "No I didn't see any CPs at all. But that doesn't mean they aren't coming. This is Raven. He saved me from a CP." Beswick turned to Raven and gave a nod, "Good to have you on board. Now Alexei I need you to be ready for this. Here take my glock and get on the lower part of our little barricade we got here. Raven on me." He handed me the pistol which I took, but was a little nervous. I had never shot someone before. "And Alexei remember. Most of them aren't human. Don't feel bad about this." I nodded. Then ran off to the lower area. There were already two above me and the person with the gas mask was in the lower area with me. "Alright I caught your name. Alexei was it? I'm Danny. Good to have someone on point with me. Even if it is just with a pistol." He smiled.

\- About a Half Hour Later -

We were waiting. Me and Danny had our backs to the wall now. We were sharing our stories from the cities. "I came from 74 to here. As far as I'm concerned 74 is over seas. Probably in old America." Just then we heard a huge explosion. The lift came rolling down at high speed. And it didn't stop. It kept going. Then we saw figures rappelling down from the top to the floor we were on. Someone shouted "Combine! Take them down!" Just then Danny and I both aimed and started unloading tons of rounds into the rappelling CP units. Some fell, others made it to the bottom and started setting up shields of their own. I turned around and saw a huge mine cart coming between the two barricades. Making us untouchable behind the barricades. We had an upper hand. I kept firing at those closest to me. Danny reached to his radio strapped to his vest, " Tell me the refugee situation is taken care of." I heard come back through the radio, "They are all in the bar. Hold out as long as you can then get up here." Danny turned to me, then went back to firing. Just then, a loud whirring sound filled up the caves. Then a small metal ball dropped down and lit up. It rolled towards the mine cart and when it got to it, it stuck and started beeping. Danny looked over and I could barely hear him say "Shit..." Then the mine cart exploded. The barricade was completely shattered and at other places was fallen over. I came to my senses. I was under a bunch of rock that fell when the roller mine exploded. I saw Danny get up and start to dig me out. I saw more combine coming. This time they were all rushing us. I reached for my pistol on the ground and started shooting them. As soon as the last piece of rock was off, Danny dragged me to my feet and yelled, "Run Alexei, let's get the fuck out of here now!" I could hear the sound of more roller mines being deployed and and turrets being set up. Me and Danny were in the back of the whole fall back. I saw Danny reach for his radio, "Bes! Me and Alexei are on the way. Keep one lift down for us. And give us some god damn covering fire." Once we got into the steelyard, Danny pointed at a lift at the far corner of the area. We ran to it and hit the button. It started going up but really slow. The combine came through the destroyed barricade. Danny shot and I shot. But it was hard to hit on a moving target. I looked up to see more rebels shooting from the catwalks above. Some were on the ground, bleeding or dead. By the time we reached the top most of the rebels were already falling back to the inside of the lounge. We hit the button on the generator to close the door and ran inside ourselves. We could still see and shoot through the little fenced out area of the gate... Beswick was through the hallway. I could hear him. I ran to him and he looked at me and mouthed "Give me a moment." He was speaking into his radio which was barely audible. "Yes I hear you. Come in from behind them and destroy the tunnels behind them. We have another way out. And yes once you destroy it come down and join the fight." He turned back to me. Alright what do you got for me?" He asked. "Ye barricade is destroyed and most rebels have fallen back. The rest I'm afraid won't have a chance to." He nodded and started back to his radio. But before he could get any words out there was a huge explosion, followed by the sound of screeching metal on metal. And then another one heard far beneath us. Everyone went quiet. Bes finally spoke into his radio, "Crow was that you?" And I heard the reply faintly, "Yes haha. We ran into a ton of them and sprinted past as we lay down C4. Although we are trapped in the lowered tunnels now. We will take the alternate route back up alright?" "Ok, stay safe." Bes smiled then turned back to the crowd with a determined look on his face. "We have blocked off their escape! Now let's finish these guys off before the rest can dig out the tunnels!" The rebels all yelled in excitement as they charged to the elevators. You could see them shooting all the way down as they yelled. It felt like the 7 hour war except backwards. This time the war was our war. Our fight.

\- Raven -

I was in a hut. One of the closest to the tunnels. I looked around for anything that could be useful, and I saw a dead rebels body, in his hand, a suppressed MP7 with a red dot sight on it. I pried it from his hands and took as much ammo as I could find on him. I looked around some more, there was a door on the other side of the hut. I opened it to hear a roar of gunfire. I stepped out to see two rebels going up an elevator. I saw another one on the ground. It was a lot bigger but it would have to do. I crouched down and went into the shadows. As the tunnel came into sight, I saw combine everywhere. We didn't stand a chance here. I kept going. But as I turned to face forward, there was a combine not 5 feet in front of me. I came up behind him slowly, and kicked in his legs. When he was on the ground I aimed the MP7 at his head an shot. I heard the life support in his suit go crazy, but I kept going. I was almost there. I needed to run to the elevator from a huge crossing... I had to. So I sat there for a second, waiting for a good time to. But just then the lights above me turned on, and some of the combine were looking right at me now. I sprinted for the elevator. Shooting as I ran, dodging all their shots. I slammed my fist into the elevator button. It started up. There was pulse rounds flying everywhere. I shot back down the elevator, but then there was a great crash, and then another. Everything went quiet for a second. I looked up, the rebels had stopped shooting, and they looked over the balcony. The combine had backed off. As soon as I got up the rebels started cheering. It was just then when everyone stormed onto my elevator I managed to jump off just in time to get back onto the balcony. I pushed my way through everyone and found Alexei, he was with Beswick.


	6. Chapter 6

Act II - Malik

The battle ended some time after that, Raven found us after the two crashes. Beswick told me that I should go see the doc, so I came down on the next elevator with Raven. Beswick led us to the doctors shack and we let ourselves inside. The doc looked at me, "God, you got fucked up pretty bad didn't you? Alright no problem, we can use medigel and get you fixed right up." I turned to Beswick, he nodded and left the shack with me and Raven inside. "Alright well let's start with your torso, that seems to be the most affected area." He took some green gel and started applying it to the cuts and gashes around my body. Raven cringed, yet I didn't feel anything but better. "We have to get back to the city Alexei, the rebels need more people than they have already. You saw how bad it was." He said. "Yeah... So after this we can go back. Pick up people little by little. The more people we have the better." I said back to him in agreement. The doctor worked on me for about 5 more minutes, astonishing time for the amount of wounds I had from the roller mine. "Try not to get yourself killed again would ya?" He said. I nodded then motioned Raven to follow me out of the shack. I walked out, and looked down at my bandages covering the medigel. Now they didn't look as bad as they did during the fight. Raven looked at me, then to the ground. "We have to go back to the city don't we..." He said. "You said it yourself. These people don't stand a chance unless we get more people in here and armed." I looked around for Beswick and found him by the generator through the tunnel. I looked back to Raven. Then nodded my head towards Beswick. We got to him and he looked at me, with all my bandages and medigel. "You should let those heal before you go back to the city, that is, if you are going back." "We are. We have to. The people here need more, there isn't any way we can take on the combine with what little force we have here." Beswick nodded, "We got the lift back up and working if you need to leave. That medigel should heal by the time you get back to the city." I unholstered my pistol and handed it out to him. And Raven pulled out an MP7 and held it out. Beswick nodded and took both of the weapons. He turned back to Fin and Danny. Me and Raven walked to the lift, there were people being dragged out and bodies on stretchers coming through. It made me hate the combine more than I had before...

\- 7 Hours Later, Back At The City -

Me and Raven came through the hole in the barred gateway, but Raven pushed me back and held a finger to his lips. He whispered "CPs, stay down." We sat there for about 10 minutes, I don't know what I felt there but I knew that it was going to bring the whole thing down fast if I didn't control myself. Raven peeked the corner, and turned back to me "They are gone let's go." We got up the ladder and walked casually out of the sewers. There were two civvies outside, watching us come out now. I threw on my beanie and took off my face wrap. They stared at us as we walked by, but we didn't care. All we needed was someone that was capable enough to keep the secrets of the rebels from the combine. We walked up the board leading into District 2. Raven looked as if he was just about to say something as we passed a cafe. The door flung open, and someone came rushing out. Followed by two CPs. We dashed to either side of the walkway. I looked at Raven, and we rushed after them. The man was running straight for the apartments. He bashed the door in and turned around to see all of us following him. The CPs took out sidearms, and they began to shoot at the man, he flailed around a bit, and sprinted up the stairs. The CPs followed him up, pistols drawn. But as they got to the final step, there was a loud series of shots. Followed by blood on the wall. The man had pulled out an AK and gunned down the two CPs, their bodies slowly falling to the ground. He looked at us, "You two need to leave, now. Go." He said In an Arabian accent. I looked him dead in the eye and said "I'm taking it you know Beswick?" He looked confused. "Who's Beswick?" Raven smirked and looked to the ground. "Look buddy we got two options here, you get to come with us and we get the hell out of the city or you can stay here and die. No doubt they know who you are now." He said. Malik looked surprised at our show of courage. Then he nodded slowly. "I'm at a lack of options either way. Let's go now before they find us." We led him to the sewers, and as we came inside we heard footsteps, and lights. We ducked down. I leaned around the corner just enough to see 3 combine on the other side. I looked to the man, he had picked up both the CPs weapons before we left. He held out a HK SOCOM in one hand and a Glock in the other. Raven slowly grabbed the Glock from his hand. I grabbed the SOCOM. I held up 3 fingers. Dropped them, and we turned the corner and shot the CPs before they even knew we were there. We rushed through the rest of the sewer.

\- Canals -

We were out. The man seemed out of breath, and shocked by the sights of the canals. I looked to him, " What's your name anyway?" I asked him. "Malik. It's Malik Shabar." We waded our way through the canals, but when we came to the open area to the barn, we saw jack. He had his crossbow drawn and he was aiming down to the barn. We crouched and approached him, I tapped his shoulder. He turned quickly around and told us, "CPs. Stay down." We pulled out our weapons. And spread out to cover. Jack handed me a small metal device, "What is it?" I asked. "A radio. Switch to frequency 490. I will tell you what to do." I switched the frequency and looked back up at him. He put an arm on my shoulder and pointed to a rock in the middle of the canals. "I need you guys to get over there and provide covering fire for me. Once I get close I will take shots at them. Got it?" I nodded. And ran to Malik and Raven. I told them the plan, and started sprinting to the rock. Malik sprayed with his AK, so that the CPs needed cover. By the time we made it there the CPs were down behind most of the cover. I used the radio, "Jack we are here, waiting for your go." Jack activated his radio, "Got it. 3, 2, 1, go go now." We all turned over the rock and started shooting. There were pulse rounds ricocheting off the rock. We heard some biosignals go off, so our shots were counting. Jack ran by us and made it under the barn. He crouched by the ladder. We saw a CP coming around and we all shot him. He fell to jacks feet, he climbed and we could hear the remaining biosignals go off. The radio came to life again. "Alright we're good. Get up here." I nodded to Raven and Malik. I got up and walked over to Jack. He was kneeling over one of the dead CPs. He looked up at us. "They were human once, the CPs at least. The COTA, not so much. These could have simply been people that were trying to help their families and get a living. This is our world now. The faster we learn that the better." He got up, looked away for a second. Then looked back, "Make no mistake Alexei. They aren't human anymore... Not anymore..." He turned away again. And we walked away.


	7. Chapter 7

Act II - Change of Plans

\- Caves -

Malik emerged from the submerged pipe to see Fin pointing her rifle at us. I threw my hands in the air, "Calm down. Friendlies." She lowered her weapon. But her face remained serious. She looked down. We walked past her to the lift. We all got on and I pushed the right button to go down. Malik stared off, into the crowd of people below. As he did I noticed something. There were crates of supplies lined up at the lift. It almost looked like we were about to leave. I shot a look to Raven. Who was looking back at me with worried eyes. The lift hit the floor. And I stepped off, I noticed Beswick up the ramp talking to some vested. I walked up to him, followed by Raven and Malik. He turned to look at us as we approach. He smiled, "Good to see you back safe guys. Who's the new comer?" I opened my mouth to say something, but Malik chimed in. "I'm Malik Shabar. I must have found one of your guys stashes in the city a while ago because I have this." He pulled out his AK. Beswick nodded and held out a hand for Malik. "Good to see you made it out, I'm Beswick Boswaldis." Malik took the hand and shook it. Beswick turned back to me and Raven. "We are compromised. They know we are down here now. Daily raids, attacks, everything in the books. We have a place set up, but it's a long and dangerous road. It's at NLO. On the coast. We are moving there in a few hours. You guys are gonna be ready right?" I nodded and Raven smiled, "As long as we get to do some shooting we are good. Jack and us took out a patrol of CPs down in the canals. So we gotta get going quick. Before they put a damper on our plans." Beswick nodded. Then turned back to the vested he was with, but turned around one more time. "We are making a FOB at the warehouse right outside if you guys want to go help out. Would be greatly appreciated." I smiled and said "Alright. Will do." Then I turned back to Raven and Malik. "You guys up for some construction?" They laughed a little and nodded.

\- Warehouse -

We walked outside and across the canals to the warehouse. There was a vested man outside who tilted his head in the direction of the entrance. We walked in to some Refugees building fortifications and a few radios. We approached a man in a trench coat and a gasmask. He looked at us and said "Ah more people to help out, we have enough people in here already but I do have some stuff for you to do. If your up for it." His muffled voice kind of reminded me of the vocoder the combine used. "I need you guys to make sure the combine won't be here anytime soon. Go down to the red barn and keep an eye out. Keep radio contact though, frequency 490 understand?" I nodded and turned to the other two. Raven smiled, "Sounds like we got the action coming to us this time eh?" I smiled back and nodded.

\- Red Barn -

We flipped some tables over in the entryway so if the combine showed up we could easily just use them as cover. My radio came to life and I heard the muffled voice of the man came through. "If you guys need it there are some rifles in the container to the right of the barn. M4s and MK16s. Make use of them." I walked to the container he mentioned. There were tons of munitions, rifles, grenades, pistols, and knives. I picked up a standard looking rifle and tested out the aiming a little. Malik and Raven came over, and Malik shrugged and walked away. Raven took another standard looking rifle and inspected it. "We are gonna have one hell of a time if they show up." He said. Suddenly we heard rotor wings in the distance and closing in. I got on one of the sides of the barn door and peaked out. There were 2 combine dropships coming. I looked to Malik and Raven, "This is where the fun begins." And aimed my rifle down the canals. Sure enough the drop ships landed and out came combine. I reached for my radio, "Hey, combine just landed outside the red barn. 2 dropships full of them. We are going to engage." I said into it, and the voice came through "Copy, good luck. We are dispatching reinforcements now. But it might take a while to get there. Hold tight." Malik had grabbed a grenade, and had his finger on the pin. I nodded, and he threw it. It landed in between three combine who looked down at it, right before it exploded. They hit the ground and we started shooting. The dropships took off in the other direction. The combine unaligned their submachine guns and returned fire. Malik had grabbed another grenade and tossed it in between 2 more. Sending them airborn. He pulled out his AK and said "I'm going for the hill to our left to get a flank on them! Keep them down there!" He sprinted out the back entrance to the barn. I could see through the windows that he was climbing the wall and up to the hill. Raven looked at me and nodded. I shot another in the leg, and he fell to the ground. I shot him again and he stopped moving. Again the rotor wings could be heard. This time they were in more numbers though... I looked up. There was 3 dropships and an armed helicopter. I looked out the window to see Malik on the ground shooting from the hill. I went to my radio, "How much longer is this gonna take we are getting overrun!" The helicopter spooled up its gun and sent a volley of bullets right trough the roof of the barn. "The reinforcements are encountering shells. It would be better if you guys fell back to meet up with them." I looked to Raven who heard it all, he nodded and started sprinting to the back door. Once we got out I shouted to Malik "We are falling back! Get down!" He got up and ran towards the opposite side of the hill where he slid down and reached the canals. The combine were running up the stairs now and saw us. They shot and the helicopter gun sent down another volley of bullets. I took Raven and pushed him to run. We jumped off the side of the railing to the canal wall. The helicopter was closing in fast. We came to the cross connector between the canals and suddenly something whirred through the air and smashed into the ground. I looked where the impact was and a shell was in its place. It opened and out crawled head crabs. I shot them as they came out but kept running. I heard the helicopter gun spool up again, but right before it shot, I saw a rocket come from inside the canals. It launched right up to the helicopter and it exploded. I looked to where the rocket smoke came from, and saw some vested people in the canals. They waved to us and we jumped down into the canals with them.


End file.
